Theories of Racism

Psychological theories of racism

Psychological theories of racism argue that racism is a form of extreme prejudice and is a manifestation of the psychological process of social perception. A prejudice is a form of extreme stereotype, and a stereotype is an attitude of one person towards another individual or group. Prejudices are forms of group stereotypes, and the formation of group stereotypes is a product of the formation of attitudes. Prejudices are linked to ego-defence — the adoption of attitudes that serve to bolster the self-esteem of the individual that holds them. Tajfel's social identity theory maintains that individuals naturally strive for positive self-image, and social identity is enhanced by the process of categorising people into in-groups and out-groups.

In other words, social psychologists have a tendency to see no need to look outside the concepts of social psychology in order to explain the formation of prejudice. Some psychologists also maintain that there is a distinct personality type that is inclined to adopt racist attitudes.

The Frankfurt school in particular maintains that there is a particular type of person, the authoritarian personality, who is likely to be racist. This view was promoted by Theodor Adorno, a member of the Frankfurt School, based on research conducted in 1950 in which questionnaires were given to a sample of 2,000 Americans. The authoritarian personality is defined to be on involving “stereotypic thinking, disguised sadism, the veneration of power” and “ the blind recognition accorded to anything that appeared forceful”. Psychological theories are advanced to explain the development of this personality. Usually, the personality is regarded as a response to an emotionally deprived childhood accompanied by over-strict parenting — a loveless and overly rigid environment. Some theorists, such as Eysenck, regard this personality trait as inherited. John Dollard also offers a psychological theory of racism. He draws on Freudian theory arguing that parents suppress basic drives in children, and that the resultant frustration is stored up for later years and emerges as racism.

Marxist theories of racism

Oliver Cox's 1948 work, Class, Caste and Race presents a Marxist interpretation of race. He disagrees that racism is a product of any inherently human tendency. He argues that race is a fictitious concept. According to Cox, racism originates in “a practical exploitative relationship”; racism is used to justify the exploitation of one group by another. Cox links this to the development of capitalism.

Castles and Kosack advocate a Marxist interpretation of race relations, which arise essentially from the way in which the richer European nations have dominated and exploited poorer nations. It is useful to capitalism to have a reserve army of labour. Furthermore, migration favours the host country. The migrants are young, strong and healthy and have had their upbringing at the expense of their parent country. Thus, the host country has not had to pay for this. They regard “migration as a form of development aid for the migration countries” that acquire labour at little cost. From the economic point of view, the additional supply of cheap labour helps to keep wages down. Capitalist exploitation may also make ideological use of migrant labour. It can justify exploitation of migrant workers on the grounds that they are racially inferior. Secondly, immigrants can be scapegoated for economic problems. Thirdly, racial prejudice divides the working population into segments and this prevents class consciousness from evolving.

Immanual Wallerstein is also influenced by Marxism and links the concepts of nationalism and racism to the evolution of capitalism. He specifically argues that the international economy has developed into a world system in which the core areas (developed, first world countries) exploit peripheral areas (undeveloped countries). Wallerstein regards race as part of the pseduo-justification of this axial division of the world. The division is in practice drawn down the lines of economic development, even if this would contradict the racist ideology that is used to underpin it. For example, he points out that in South Africa, under apartheid, visiting Japanese business men were classed as 'honorary whites'. Nationalism is also part of the “political superstructure” of the world. Once sovereign states had evolved they became competitors in the world system. Each state occupies a different position in the world system. Nationalism is part of the ideology that justifies the position of core nations in the hierarchy. Finally, he regards ethnicity as a device to segment the labour market. It is used to justify the lower position of some groups within the labour market. Additionally, ethnicity is related to the different ways in which individuals are socialized within their families and in the community, and hence perpetuates differential labour opportunities.

The Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies published a series of articles in 1982 entitled The Empire Strikes Back in which they presented a neo-Marxist theory of racism. The principle authors were John Solomos, Bob Findlay, Simon Jones and Paul Gilroy. Whilst colonialism influenced racism, they claim that racism predates the colonial period. However, they are mainly concerned to examine the causes of racism in modern Britain. They see racism in Britain as emerging out of the economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. This new racism is based on perceived differences of culture between ethnic groups rather than on the concept of biological differences of race. Faced with economic uncertainty the ethnic minorities were scape-goated. The scape-goating took the form of an attack on the culture of the different ethnic groups. However, the Afro-Caribbeans were particularly attacked for their lack of family values, whilst Asians were blamed for having over large extended families leading to overcrowding. Both groups were portrayed as lacking in loyalty to Britain.

Paul Gilroy was another contributor to the Empire Strikes Back series and published in 1987 his own work, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack. He takes the view that the formation of racism (or race formation) is created through struggle between the different groups. In other words, stereotypes are not fixed, and that the interaction between different groups can lead to new concepts being formed. He uses the term 'black' to illustrate his point. Originally, in Britain the term was used to refer to both Asians and Caribbeans, but more recently it is used to refer to Carribeans alone; thus a new from of racism that divides the Africans from the Asians is emerging. Gilroy also claims that in the formation of this new racism, the link between crime and being black is essential. That is, it is part of the stereotype that black people are criminally minded. He attacks the Conservative MP, Enoch Powell, for being instrumental in the formation of this new racism. He disagrees with the theory of ethnic abolutism, which maintains that differences between ethnic cultures are absolute and unchanging with time. He analyses black culture from the point of view of an evolutionary process. It is influenced by a reaction to racism, but has its own creativity, and is not exclusively a product of this reaction. It is also possible for black culture to influence white culture, for example, and particularly, the influence of black music through the impact of American artists and reggae music. Gilroy is not a strict Marxist, since he does not accept that race and class formation are identical, and that whilst race is used as a tool for capitalist exploitation, racial divisions are distinct from class divisions.

The immigrant host model

This is a theory of the development of race relations between a host population and an immigrant population that is heavily influenced by functionalist sociology. It maintains that in society there is a basic consensus based on accepted difference between different functional groups. For this reason, over time, the host population is expected to assimilate the immigrant population, and the immigrant population is expected to adapt to the culture of the host population.

The immigrant host model has been influenced by the work of Chicago based sociologist Robert E Park during the 1920s and 1930s. He maintained that race relations arose when people in the same society identified with different sub-groups. Thus, the existence of different skin colours did not automatically cause a race relations issue. For example, in Brazil Europeans and Africans coexist without conflict. Parks maintains that “It is obvious that race relations and all that they imply are generally and on the whole the products of migration and conquest”. Following migration or conquest there would be a period of interracial adjustment that would involve processes of competition, conflict, accommodation and assimilation. Competition could take extreme forms — resulting in the extinction of a race; whilst competition occurred between different racial groups, conflict takes place between individuals in the competition, for example, for jobs. However, accommodation and assimilation are processes that bring the different groups together. Accommodation is a sort of truce in which the different racial groups agree to coexist harmoniously. Assimilation involves the more deeper fusion of the two cultures — “individuals spontaneously acquire one another's language, characteristic attitudes, habits and modes of behaviour.” However, Parks did not believe that assimilation was the inevitable consequence of a race relations problem. Most functionalists do, however, believe that every race relations problem will eventually result in assimilation, because of their underlying need to collaborate in an organic whole.

Sheila Patterson made a study of first-generation immigrants from the West Indies living in Brixton, London. She affirms the immigrant host model, arguing that hosts and immigrants had the shared common goal of accommodation and integration, though more effort was expected on the part of the immigrants than on the part of the hosts. She found that at the time of writing most West Indians had not progressed beyond the accommodation stage, but she projected a time when “the incoming group as a whole through its organizations, adapts itself to permanent membership of the receiving society in certain major spheres of association, notably in economic and civil life.” Adaptation results in assimilation, and even to physical assimilation resulting from inter-breeding. In detail she found a situation of accommodation in Brixton, with employers recognizing that the labour shortage required them to employ West Indians, evidence of “rough humour” between whites and blacks, white landlords accepting West Indian tenants to an extent and local shops stocking goods suitable for the Indian market. She found that some West Indians were adopting British patterns of life — for example, more stable family units. However, only accommodation had been reached, not assimilation.

In criticism of the immigrant host model it can be argued that firstly, the model makes no reference to the time scale over which full assimilation might take place. Secondly, it assumes that assimilation is a desirable aim of race relations, and hence assumes that the host culture is superior. Thirdly, it does not accept that racism is a force that divides groups, maintaining that “race relations” issues arise from a temporary lack of accommodation and assimilation, and not from something more fundamental in human nature. Finally, Marxists do not accept this model, as they derive racial conflict from economic oppression and do not accept the fundamental functionalist premises behind the immigrant host model.

Ethnographic studies

An ethnographic study is a study of the lifestyle of an ethnic group. Examples of ethnographic studies include

Sikhs in the Punjab and in Leeds

A study by Roger and Catherine Ballard was conducted between 1971 and 1974 into the lifestyles of Sikhs in Leeds and in the Julundur Doab region of Punjab. The Ballards claim that the history of Sikhs in Britain falls into four phases. During the pioneer phase before the Second World War a small number of male Sikhs came to Britain to earn money. After the 1950s there was a period of 'mass migration', also mostly male, who lived in predominantly male households owned by other Sikhs as temporary investments, their aim was to send money home to the Punjab. They regarded British culture as 'degenerate'. After the 1960s these immigrants began to be joined by their wives and families and by the 1970s most Sikhs were living with their wives. This made them even more concerned for the preservation of their traditional values, and they began creating institutions to preserve their culture — such as Sikh temples. Relations between Sikh men and white girls became more taboo, not less. They developed a myth of return, that they would go back to the Punjab. This myth serves to justify the preservation of their own culture. However, in the most recent phase, second generation Sikhs demonstrated more accommodation with Western materialism, and some children would adopt British clothing. There may be some conflict with their families, though in fact most young Sikhs continue to value family life and traditional Sikh values. Some second generation Sikhs adopt the strategy of multiple presentations of self, meaning that they act different depending on the context — whether that is inside the family or outside it, at work or in an educational context.

Contrasts between Sikhs and Muslims

Roger Ballard in the 1990s conducted further studies of South Asian groups in Britain, pointing out that different ethnic groups from this region were following different paths. Thus, there were identifiable differences between the life profiles of the Julunder Sikhs and the Muslims from the Mirpur District of Kashmir. The Mirpuri Muslims tended to be less skilled than the Julundur Sikhs and were more likely to lose their jobs during a recession. There are also significant cultural differences between the two groups — for example, marriages between cousins is permitted for the Muslims by not for the Sikhs or Hindus; Muslims places greater restrictions on women (the purdah) than the Sikhs; Muslims bury their dead, Sikhs and Hindus cremate them. The consequences of these cultural differences was to make Muslims more inward looking than Sikhs. Muslim men spent a greater proportion of their income on travel, and sent more of it home.

West Indians in Bristol

Ken Pyrce conducted a study of West Indians in Bristol between 1969 and 1974. The development of this ethnic group is also shaped by a combination of economic and cultural factors. Most West Indians in this group originated from Jamaica and were working-class and poor. The history of slavery created a strong cultural heritage. For example, African slaves lost their religion when they were transplanted and became Christians; as slaves, they could not sustain stable family life. British culture was extolled, whereas African culture was despised. Poor Jamaicans rarely formally marry, and maintain strong nuclear families. Jamaican religion developed along two lines — firstly, Pentacostalism, which is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible and also upon the idea of possession by the Holy Spirit; - secondly, Rastafarianism, which is based on the Old Testament, founded by Marcus Garvey in the early C20th, and maintains that black Aftricans outside Africa will eventually return to Africa and be freed from oppression.

Pryce found that there were distinct sub-cultures within the West Indian community, ranging from those that expressed conflict with British society to those that sought accommodation with it. The former category, called the expressive-disreputable orientation by Pryce, could be divided into hustlers and teenyboppers. The hustlers wanted material success but sought to achieve it by illegal means, such as selling drugs, pimping and conning. The teenyboppers are predominantly male, homeless and unemployed who are in danger of becoming delinquents. They often have unstable family backgrounds. Those sub-cultures that express accommodation with British society are called by Pryce stable law-abiding orientations. They include in-betweeners who are aged between 18 and 35 and are anxious to achieve material success and have stable family life, however, wish to maintain contact with their ethnic roots and often mix with husters in their leisure time and smoke marijuana. Then there are mainliners who also want success, and become very conservative and law abiding, seeking the favour of whites. The proletarian respectables are working class, hard working, law abiding and politically inactive. Of these the saints are those that are Pentacostalists.

Formation of ethnic groups

According to the American sociologists Shils, writing in 1957, ethnic groups form through a primordial attachment to their region of origin. However, another approach, known as the mobilizationist approach argues that primordial attachment is not inevitable, and that groups form because members of the group anticipate some advantage from them. The development of an ethnic identity may be a defence mechanism against living in a hostile environment. However, neither approach contradicts the other, and according to McKay it is possible to combine the two to form a matrix system of classification of ethnic groups. According to him ethnic traditionalists are bonded by emotional primordial ties to their region of origin and their motivation is to maintain ethnic culture rather than political. Ethnic militants are ethnic groups that are strong in both primordial ties and political aims, and such a group can resort to terrorism — for example, the Basques in Spain. Symbolic ethnics have weak attachment to their group in terms of both primordial and political factors — they are people who like to identify themselves with a group on selected days of the year — like an American Irishman who joins a St. Patrick's Day parade. Ethnic manipulators are groups attempted to win some political objective by stressing, even artificially, membership of an ethnic group. Psuedo-ethnics are groups who exist mainly in the minds of their would-be leaders. The leaders try to create an ethnic issue in order to win a political advantage, but this aim is not largely supported by the community.

Multiculturalism

There is the question as to whether different ethnic groups can co-exist peacefully within a society, by showing mutual respect. The ethnicity approach may be regarded as more sympathetic to this viewpoint, since it does not suggest that assimilation is the ultimate goal of ethnic diversity.

“Natural conservativism”

E. Cashmore published in 1987 a study of British white attitudes to ethnic groups. The study was based on in-depth interviews with 800 people from the West Midlands deriving from four areas: (1) Newton, and inner-city housing estate in Birmingham with a predominantly working-class population, a large ethnic population (13.4%) and high unemployment (at 23.7%). (2) Chelmsley Wood, a working class council estate outside Birmingham, with a smaller ethnic minority (3.5%) and a lower but rising rate of unemployment at 16.3%. (3) Edgbaston, near the centre of Birmingham, with a predominantly middle-class popuation, a small but growing population of Asians (6.1%) and lower unemployment at 6.1%. (4) Solihull, an affluent town west of Coventry, with a small ethnic minority (1%) and low unemployment at 4.2%.

These sample groups were also classified according to age: young (under 21), middle-aged (21-5) and older people (over 50).

There was evidence of racism in Newtown. Competition over housing was a major issue of contention. In Chelmsley Wood whites tended to criticize ethnic minorities for failing to assimilate into British culture, but racial prejudice was not as prominent. In Edgbaston and Solihull racial issues were even less prominent. There was a tendency for whites to distinguish between Afro-Caribbeans and Asians, seeing the former as “spongers” and the latter as “hardworking” and family-orientated.

Younger people tended to be less racist than older people. This difference was attributable to the experience of young people at schools, where they mixed with others of different ethnic backgrounds. However, most young people tended to socialize with other young people of their own ethnic background. However, there were differences between the different areas studied, with some white youths from Chemlsey Wood expressing very stereotypical views of ethnic minorities, such as, “Blacks stink of sweat and a lot of them are pimps.” The middle-class youths were prepared to accept that the media creates racial stereotypes and exaggerates the extent of racism. They tended to follow their parents' view that people shape their own lives and that if ethnic groups were more unsuccessful, this was because of their own lack of effort.

Older people in Newton were inclined to blame falling standards of living in their area on ethnic minorities, blaming them for causing excessive noise, taking jobs away from white people, running prostitution and being involved in crime. Older whites in Chelmsley Wood were less prejudicial and those in Edgbaston and Solihull also adopted the theory that the lack of success of ethnic groups was due to their own lack of effort.

Cashmere's own theory of racism is that it is a product of natural conservativism, stating that “most people are conservative for no reason more mysterious than that they want stability and order”.

Institutional Racism

This refers to the way in which institutional arrangements and the distribution of resources in our society serve to reinforce the advantages of the dominant majority. It is usually an unconscious prejudice residing the structure of a system rather than deliberately held by the members of that system. The existence of institutional racism is advanced by Robert Blauner, who argued that racism is inherent in the structure of American society.

It is not agreed by all sociologists that institutional racism exists. There are also different forms of this thesis: (a) that institutions are engineered deliberately to be racist in their functioning — this is a form of conspiracy theory; (b) some Marxists claim that the state acts on behalf of capital and that the consequence of this state institutions perpetuate racism; (c) the theory of unintended consequences claims that institutions and practices that are not consciously designed to be racist may be racist in effect; (d) there is another version of the thesis, called colonialism, that looks at the how the process of immigration creates racism — it is argued by John Rex that in Britain immigrants from the New Commonwealth countries are employed in low status jobs, thus reinforcing their identity as migrants; (e) political opportunism results in racism as a product of electioneering — political parties seek to win votes by supporting polices on immigration control.